FIG. 1 is a flow chart depicting a conventional method 10 for fabricating a conventional magnetic recording write transducer. For simplicity, some steps are omitted. The conventional method 10 is used for providing a magnetic write pole in an aluminum oxide layer. A trench is formed in the aluminum oxide layer, via step 12. The top of the trench is wider than the trench bottom in the region close to the ABS. As a result, the pole tip formed therein will have its top surface wider than its bottom. A seed layer is deposited, via step 14. The seed layer may be ferromagnetic or nonmagnetic. The conventional pole materials are plated, via step 16. Step 16 may include plating ferromagnetic pole materials. A chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is then performed, via step 18. The write gap and top shield may then be deposited, via steps 20 and 22, respectively.
FIG. 2 depicts air-bearing surface (ABS) and plan views of a portion of a conventional transducer 50 formed using the conventional method 10. The conventional transducer 50 includes an underlayer 52, seed layer 54 which is deposited in the trench (not shown). The side material(s) 56 and 58 are also shown. The side material(s) 56 and 58 may be insulating, conductive, ferromagnetic and/or nonmagnetic. The pole 60, write gap 70 and top shield 80 are also shown. Thus, using the conventional method 10, the pole 60 may be formed.
Although the conventional method 10 may provide the conventional transducer 50, there may be drawbacks. The conventional pole 60 is typically formed of plated FeCo or CoFeZ, where Z is a material such as Ni, Rh, Cr, or Ru. The practical upper limit of the moment for such plated materials is approximately 2.4 T with a lower coercivity. In general, the anisotropy field for such materials is low, on the order of ten through thirty-five Oersted. As a result, such conventional poles 50 are likely to suffer from issues such as adjacent track interference (ATI), wide area track erasure (WATE), and domain lock-up (DLU). Accordingly, what is needed is an improved method for fabricating a transducer.